Crank Down the Fear, Kick Up the Courage
by j1ack
Summary: A cowardly Harry likes Ginny, but what will happen when Ron misplaces a book?  Sorry that's a really bad summary.  One-shot, Harry/Ginny.  Please R&R.


Harry was sitting on the couch doing nothing in particular when Ginny came from outside into the kitchen. He watched her wipe some sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. She then pulled the hair band out of her hair and it rippled down to her stomach like a fiery waterfall. With everyone out of the burrow for Christmas shopping, except for Fred and George, who were managing their store, poor Ginny had been assigned with degnoming the garden. Of course Harry had offered to help, but Mrs. Weasley had insisted on Harry staying indoors on such a cold day. Harry had thought it best not to upset the mother of the girl he had feelings for, so he complied. Hermione later scolded him for not going out to help Ginny anyway.

Harry hadn't just recently started feeling butterflies in his stomach when Ginny entered the room, or his mind for that matter. Harry had been wanting to be closer to Ginny since the school year had started, but he just didn't have the courage to ask her, or Ron, about the whole concept of him and Ginny as a couple. A basilisk or dementors Harry could handle, the wrath of the Weasley clan, not so much. So he had resigned to admiring from afar, but he didn't know how long that would last.

Ginny began unwrapping the scarf from around her neck, oblivious to Harry watching her. Harry was abruptly snapped out of his trance when Ron, the only other person in the house, came down the stairs with a thud.

"Harry, Hermione says she can't proof-read a paper that hasn't been written yet. She told me to _write my own!_ Harry, I don't think I've written a paper myself since third year! You have to help me!"

"Okay Ron, calm down. First, you need to start with parchment," Harry spoke as if to a first year who was writing his first paper.

"Yeah, yeah, I've got that," Ron said, still breathless from his mad dash down the stairs. Harry heard Ginny laugh softly behind him.

"And you have a quill and ink?" Ginny continued the line of questioning as she sat down beside Harry on the couch. Harry's heart started to beat a little faster, but he scolded himself. It's not like anything was going to happen with Ron standing such a short distance away.

"I'm not stupid. I know what I need to write a paper, I just don't remember how."

Harry smiled. "So its the herbology paper on the history of eastern European plants, right? Do you have the textbook?"

Ron's face slackened with shock. "There's a book for that class?"

"Yes, Ron. Did you lose it? Perhaps you left it in your room?"

"Or on the rocking chair outside," Ginny offered.

"Or on the train."

"Or in your dorm."

"Okay, okay I get it. I misplace things a lot. That doesn't mean I lose important things like textbooks for school!" Ron exclaimed, exasperated.

"Actually, Gin, I think we are giving credit where it is not deserved. He probably never took it out of Flourish and Blotts."

As Ginny and Harry burst into laughter, Ron said, "When I find it in five minutes, you're going to regret ever saying a world against me!"

After Ron had sprinted up the stairs and Ginny and Harry's laughter had subsided, Ginny said, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah, shoot," Harry responded.

Ginny scooted a little closer to him on the couch while she asked, "After you help Ron with his paper, do you want to go to Hogsmede or something?"

Harry had imagined asking this question to Ginny and her enthusiastic response for a while now, so he was quite taken off guard when the roles that he imagined in his head were reversed.

The only response that he could think of at the time, for which he later cursed himself, was, "You still like me?"

Ginny smiled and said, "I never stopped liking you, Harry. I gave up on you. There's a difference. But the real question is, do _you_ like _me_ enough to go on a date with me. She was even closer now, and Harry could have leaned over a short distance and kissed her.

"Well then," Harry said, "If that is the real question, then the answer would be yes one thousand times over."

"I found it!" Ginny and Harry both heard Ron exclaim as he descended the huge staircase in the center of the burrow.

Harry was about to pull away, but Ginny moved her hand up to his face to keep him close. "Quick, before Ron gets down here," Ginny whispered before she kissed him. It was short, sweet, and by far better than any kiss Cho had given him. By the time Ron had gotten down, Ginny was back in the kitchen looking through the pantry, although Harry was still sitting on the couch with his hair slightly ruffled and a faint look of surprise across his face.

"Do you want to know where it was? I actually had to fight off Hermione's possessed cat to get the entire thing back in one piece." Ron said with pride, as if he had just stolen a golden egg from a dragon, as opposed to wrestling a school textbook from a small and rather fat housecat.

"You know, Ron?" Harry said as he surreptiously smiled at Ginny, "I think I know some tips on how to write a paper really fast."


End file.
